Sliding Towards Disaster, How Universal Credit Is Already A Failure

Two reports have been released by the DWP this week which show that Universal Credit is fast becoming the toxic mix of poverty, insecure work and demoralising Jobcentre harassment that many feared when plans for an overhaul of the benefit’s system were first proposed.

At first glance one of the evaluations, which examines how many people have found a job after a period on Universal Credit (UC), appears to show a rosy future. Claimants on UC were 8% more likely to have had some work nine months after making their claim than those on Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), the benefit which it is due to replace. However this does not tell the entire story. Whilst UC claimants were more likely to have had a period of temporary work during the evaluation period, they were only 3% more likely to actually be in work at the nine month point. Also, and significantly, whatever work it was that they were doing, it didn’t earn them much. UC claimants earned around £80 more in the nine month period than those who made a JSA claim at the same time – less than two days wages on the minimum wage, despite on average working for 12 days more. Whilst the researchers warn, not unfairly, that the data on days worked and earnings is not as robust as that on job entry rates, if this result was replicated on a national scale then Universal Credit would be a disaster.

There is no real saving to the tax payer in people earning an extra eighty quid over nine months – especially if they are only marginally less likely to be unemployed at the end of it than those on the current system. Astonishingly the government’s long term spending plans are based on Iain Duncan Smith’s magical belief that changing the name of the dole and slightly upping the amount of Jobcentre harassment will cure structural unemployment for hundreds of thousands of people. As such lots of money will be saved, particularly in Housing Benefit payments. These results show that is not likely to be the case.

And it gets worse. The people studied in the evaluations were all single claimants with no housing costs, meaning they were probably living with family or friends. Most of them would be newly unemployed and therefore the most likely to move into work. In theory at least, it is far easier to take on (and declare) a couple of days work under UC than it is on the current system where working for short periods is likely to plunge your claim into chaos. The researchers themselves admit “some of the increase in the likelihood of becoming employed is due to UC leading to an increase in short-term work.” What this means in practice is teachers and nurses stacking shelves in Poundland just to get the Jobcentre off their backs whilst the long term unemployed stay out of work.

This report by the way was the good news for Iain Duncan Smith. The second evaluation, which included looking at the impact of Universal Credit on those with housing costs, provides a chilling glimpse into the future of the UK’s social security system.

This study compared questionnaire responses from Universal Credit claimants with those claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance. Participants were questioned twice, at five and a half weeks after first making their claim and then, for those that agreed to be contacted again, three months later. The results of the first wave of responses have previously been published and this report confirms the trends of the first. Once again most people thought much of the ‘work related activity’ they were required to carry out as part of a UC claim was a waste of time, probably not achievable and did not take into account their personal circumstances. Despite this almost all were aware they could be sanctioned if they did not jump through the endless petty requirements to provide evidence they had been looking for work for 35 hours a week. Some even suggested this was detrimental to their job search: “What’s more important writing notes [for the Jobcentre] or preparing for an interview?.”

Whilst this evaluation was mainly concerned with the experiences of those claiming UC it also recorded how many people had successfully gained work, although it points out this is a ‘descriptive overview of working status’ rather than a measure of the impact of Universal Credit. But then they would say that wouldn’t they. Especially when the evaluation found that not only were employment rates almost exactly the same for UC and JSA claimants (at 41% and 40%), but that those on the current system were significantly more likely to be working full time than those on Universal Credit. 55% people in employment after claiming JSA were working over 35 hours a week by the time of the second questionnaire compared to 48% of UC claimants. So when those in rented housing are taken into account then Universal Credit is worse at helping people find full time work than the current system.

It still gets worse. Whilst the chances of finding a decent job on Universal Credit are dismal then the experiences of many who have claimed range from tragic to laughable.

The implementation of 35 hours a week enforced job search as part of the Claimant Commitment which underpins Universal Credit is revealed to be a farce by the evaluation. Claimants did report spending more time on job search than those on JSA, but they actually applied for slightly less jobs on average. It appears that if you fill in job applications really, really slowly then that will help maintain your benefit conditionality. For the technologically skilled this requirement is bizarre – one survey respondent pointed out that by setting up job alerts and using online applications they could apply for 50 jobs in a couple of hours so the requirement to spend 35 hours job searching was fruitless. Others claimed a lack of local jobs in the area made this demand impossible “there’s only so many people you can go and see in a week, and then the next week you’re struggling… you are going to run out of places to go and people to ring”. Some pointed out they did not have the money to constantly visit employers to hand in CVs or use internet cafes as they were required to do to avoid a benefit sanction.

All that this unachievable and draconian conditionality is likely to do is shatter people’s confidence and sadly even this was borne out by the research. After around five months claiming benefits, 28% of Universal Credit claimants did not believe they were likely to get a job within the next three months compared to 19% of of those receiving Jobseeker’s Allowance.

It is not just people’s confidence that is demolished by Universal Credit, but also their finances. The five week waiting period for the benefit led to almost half of UC claimants with housing costs falling into rent arrears by the time the first survey was carried out. Some had even been taken to court by their landlords and were likely to be staring eviction in the face. As survey respondents pointed out, the loss of a job is a big enough financial hit to take without having to wait over a month for housing benefits to be processed. Even three months later some had still not caught up with rent – UC claimants were five percentage points more likely to be in rent arrears than those on JSA by the time of the second survey. The so-called budgeting support available for claimants appears to have been met with a scathing response with one person pointing out they were quite capable of working out themselves what their monthly income and outgoings were. Whilst UC claimants were slightly more likely to ask for help with budgeting than those on JSA, the general attitude seems to have been they didn’t need better budgeting skills, they needed more money – or just some money for those waiting for their claim to be processed.

Even claiming the new ‘digital by default’ benefit seems to have been shambolic. 63% of those with housing costs who tried to claim UC online experienced at least one difficulty with over a fifth of those saying the website crashed.

To read the gushing press release that accompanied these reports you would think that Universal Credit was already a huge success. But the truth is very different. About the only real positive findings for the DWP was that almost everyone claiming Universal Credit was well aware they needed to waste hours of their time providing reams of evidence of job search to Jobcentres or they would be sanctioned. This isn’t helping anyone find long term sustainable work though. For those with no housing costs and a high chance of finding work – young graduates living with parents for example – then perhaps it pushes them into low paid temporary work a little bit faster than the current system, although even the impact of this is largely diminished in the long term. For everyone else it is a disaster. Rent arrears, debt, and unemployed people’s confidence destroyed by constant Jobcentre harassment is the real consequence of government’s flagship welfare reform. And it will carry on getting worse when sick and disabled people or lone parents are pushed into an already failing bureaucratic nightmare.

Iain Duncan Smith has called the results of these evaluations ‘remarkable’. Billions more pounds is now set to be spent propping up this delusion as Universal Credit is extended to the 99% of out of work claimants who have yet to be transferred onto the new system. It has taken over five years to produce this mess. About the only remarkable thing about this shambles is that Iain Duncan Smith still has a job. Which is more than you can say for over half of those claiming Universal Credit.

271 responses to “Sliding Towards Disaster, How Universal Credit Is Already A Failure”

UC system is a failure because IDS is an incompetent, useless, arrogant, evil minded, odious fascist failure, what else would you expect with someone like that at the helm, he failed as tory leader so what did they think he was going to do when he was put in charge of this, obviously it was going to fail too, this white elephant has been a disaster from start to finish, ill conceived, badly thought and planned out and incompetently executed but what else do you expect from IDS, a huge money pit this has become and is continuing to being, system is not up in place, people aren’t getting their money and it’s costing the taxpayer a bloody fortune, I wouldn’t be at all surprised that if more problems occur with UC, the tories don’t scrap it altogether and if that’s the case, then IDS should be made to fall on his sword and get his useless, Nazi arse out of office because all he is is an abject failure and that’s what his true legacy is, being a big, bloody, bald failure!

Money being saved – through the tortoise slow introduction of UC, and all of us being forced into illegal sanction – goes into IDS’ end-of-year pay bonus.

How else can the fat, porky pig stuff his fat mouth with expensive goose and venison during his three day party in DWP towers during New Year celebrations? We are paying for his party wine and food through us being sanctioned for simply standing up for our rights.

Quite right and you’re spot on about future problems.
a] the new influx of cannon fodder… sorry what am I saying, or as Lord Fraud famously stated “Stock”, into conditionality from 06Apr16 will break the system.
b] now that DWP has reduced staff number – more number from 06Apr15 i.e. an extra million or so – I wonder how things will go?
c] the chaos the new conditionality regime will impose will be something to behold – it will NOT be good
d] the inablity of UC to cope with changing work patterns will mean thousands, yes maybe even tens of thousands of upset single mothers.
e] the reduction in Tax Credits.

All in all a Perfect Storm of chaos. ConCons are going to be headless chickens.

Idioitic drunken shite is already a disaster and a failure. Well over 100,000 signatures on the epetition website demanding he is sacked and not a frigging whisper from ANYBODY in so-called parliament in response to this. They should all hang their heads is shame for ignoring the will of the people – the very same who voted the greedy wankers in, in the first place.

“I’m alright jack – fuck the rest of them who got me a cushy, well-to-do job with all the trimmings, a gold-plated pension, big country mansion and endless expensive holidays in the Maldives all year round” – This attitude I would expect those 600+ lazy cunts all in ‘power’.

IDS wil surely get his Sirhood from that old wrinkly bag or from her bug-eared son Charlie boy in the New Year Honours list now, for fucking up Tax Credits, all manner of ESA and JSA, the entire DWP system and for having an ugly fucking face I want to punch the lights out of everytime I see the slap-headed bastard.

Every single thing that the Government has given us, in the way of every single ‘Work-programme’ scheme, from YTS to New Deal to the latest bollocks HAS NEVER PUT ANYBODY INTO PAID WORK, NOR REAL HELP TOWARDS PAID WORK OR FURTHER PROPER TRAINING.

Somehow I don’t think that IDS gives a flying fuck about the real world or how it is reported in the media. He’ll be stuffing his fat mouth come Christmas with party food that might this year choke him.

He was on Radio 4 earlier with the usual this is a better way and that UC will be tapered because JSA is worth more so when you get moved on the UC ..you won’t lose for a while.
There you go everything they do is for one reason only …to make you work more for less.
Strange how being an MP they get paid more for less… Must just work for the rich!

“””Unlike previous benefits, Universal Credit doesn’t stop when a claimant enters work. Instead it stays with claimants for as long as they need it, offering support to progress in work and increase their earnings until they are entirely free of the benefits system. As such, Universal Credit delivers the government’s pledge to move from a low wage, high welfare society to a
higher wage, lower welfare one.””””

“””This is a monumental change – the significance of which will only increase as the newsystem is established across the country. Universal Credit is already present in 75% ofjobcentres, and it will have reached all of them by spring 2016.”””

Fast rust through for Spring 2016 after the Tax Credit outcry last month.

‘He also said UC was now available in 500 jobcentres, three-quarters of the total number, but he also conceded that only 150,000 people were currently on UC, the majority of them single people without children and so relatively easy to process.’

Just finished a job after 12 years. Have no computer access other than local library which is closed Tuesday and weekends How I overcome such limitations and manage 35 hours job search!!I’m all ears. Never had experience of a more confrontational system

very gloomy…
absolute total control over peoples lives….
no escape…
totalitarian state….
need benefits sign on no choice…
goaded scrutiny, grinding poverty taken to new lows…
the new improved satanic mills…

ps one major extra concern burden i see is when people have off days….and those off days cause a crash…dropped in the shit and the bale out comes from jcp/gp cbt, and one becomes caught in it’s addictive claws….literally a very poor machine oil….they’ve seen it too….

Universal Credit may contact you by letter, telephone, SMS text or email. However:
•Universal Credit never includes web links in emails or SMS text messages
•if you get an email or SMS text message that claims to have been sent by Universal Credit and has a web link in it you should not select this link
•Universal Credit does not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of fraud by other parties.”””

“””The information you give may be shared with healthcare professionals and other medical service providers working with Universal Credit to deal with:
•your Universal Credit claim
•any request for you claim to be looked at again”””

So everyone on Universal Credit will have a HCP AKA Medical Health Insurance.

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Is it little wonder that Class 1 – IDS, Cameron, Osborne and all of their Eton chums are so much up their own arses? And how they all look down upon the likes of the lower classes and the ‘precariat’. I notice that the unemployed, sick & disabled are not included in this ‘poorest 7th Class’!
(This is the ‘new’ 7 Class system in Britain that the BBC has identified)!
home.bt.com/lifestyle/which-class-are-you-test-which-of-britains-7-new-classes-you-belong-to-11364027532575

I have apologised for that -you always weem to think that I am against you, which I am not. If you won’t accept my apology then I won’t be posting to you any on here any more. It’s a pity but I guess that’s the way its going to have to be.

overburdenddonkey – yes, I have looked at and learned from it.
I am not, or have ever blamed you for it – I was wrong with what I said to you at that time – I realised that and hence my apology to you.
I cannot do any more than I have done to try to ‘redeem ‘ myself.

you don’t have to redeem yourself to me…but you even tried to dump the resp for what you did here… -you always weem to think that I am against you, which I am not. If you won’t accept my apology then I won’t be posting to you any on here any more. It’s a pity but I guess that’s the way its going to have to be.’ and i saw no evidence from you on the previous blog post that you also refer to…. ok i’ll accept that you’ve learned from it, for now…

He doesn’t know why he’s having to say “a small number of people” instead – in the shallows of his pea-brain he dimly recognises that he’s no Donald Trump/Boris Johnson and he can’t say what he really means.

He doesn’t know why It’s not ok to be honest in this case, but it’s business as usual in his universe/he’s taken advice (been told what to say) and is happy to repeat this phrase. He can then collect his vast salary and go on his dubious way, telling himself once again it’s ‘job well done’…

Deeply Sadistic ‘believes’ the dodgy ideology of (his betters) in the nazty party and he looks forward to leaving out a large stick instead of anything resembling food/drink on Christmas eve (“for Santa/the reindeers’ own good”), of course.

And even when you do compile & record the stacks of required jobsearch evidence, as with JSA , the Jobcentre staff either can’t be bothered or don’t have time to even look at it! What a complete & utter fucking shambles the Tories have made of our Social Security system, and what a ridiculous bloody sham it all is.

That evil, warped, sadistic, thick-as-pig-shit, ego-maniac Iain Duncan fucking Smith should hang for the damage he has inflicted upon the people of this country. HOW the Hell has the reckless incompetent scumbag bastard still got his job???!!!

I am quite surprised that nobody has been killed yet. Treat an animal badly and it will attack, what do these disability deniers that pass death sentences on those already broken in some way, expect.
Couple that with the recrimination of being dragged through court in a litigation case because your medical knowledge was so bad, somebody suffered or took their own life.

Thats why the healthcare professionals are picked from an unfamilar area.

But as someone has said many times, a log of hcp’s and bent judges has been compiled, giving their addresses and family members.

The Nazis thought they were far superior and their crimes unquestionable. Nuremberg soon sorted them out, dangling on a rope for all the world to see, broadcast in every language.
There are more ways to skin a cat, if Dunko the Clown goes unpunished, somebody will soon square the circle.

but it must surely pretty obvs by now, that punishment fails to stop these symptoms of abuse, behaviours….and in fact causes them and/or worsens them, causes new/different ways of, for your own good, presenting them …so much so that a wide range of literature exists with the aim of controlling/managing these symptoms, instead of curing them…ie cbt…
that we can all make an impact on curbing these behaviours, by claiming appealing and/or challenging/resisting them where ever when ever they’re found…ie. like these people who think free speech is saying exactly what they want, when in fact they have a right to fair comment….

People have been killed through someone’s else’s disability. The Glasgow bin lorry disaster. How many people with health issues are going to lie rather than go through the ESA WCA process, and live on 75-100 quid a week.
People with more health issues than this guy have been found fit for work. .

happy dayzz If someone has a pulse they are fit for work in the politicians eyes. Never mind some day most of us will be obliterated when they use the nuclear weapons. Perhaps not in my lifetime but it will happen. Einstein said “I don’t know how the third world war will be fought but the fourth will be fought with sticks and stones”.

A very well researched article JV. The benefits system is truly messed up. Given the evidence so far it appears UC conditionality – i.e. spending at least 35 hours a week applying for work and gathering evidence for the jobcentre to check over in order to avoid sanctions is far more about micromanaging and controlling people’s lives on benefits rather than supporting them towards gainful employment. Equally it appears jobseekers on UC are far more likely to lose their homes than on the current JSA system. UC is another example of Iain Duncan Smith’s misguided attempts at controlling the ‘little people’.

I can See as Well that Pro Austerity and War Labour MPs are Disgusting
and should Stand Down so By Elections can be Held

I Wish Jeremy Corbyn had more Backbone in Him to Stand Up to the
Rightists of the Parliamentary Labour Party and the Dustbin Material
masquerading as ” Newspapers ” Not Forgetting the Boneheads Tabloids

People Need to be Out Demonstrating for Increased Funding to the
Welfare State

FUCK THE TORIES | December 8, 2015 at 9:42 pm | Reply

And even when you do compile & record the stacks of required jobsearch evidence, as with JSA , the Jobcentre staff either can’t be bothered or don’t have time to even look at it! What a complete & utter fucking shambles the Tories have made of our Social Security system, and what a ridiculous bloody sham it all is.

I Hope that the Successor wherever they be Tory, Liberal Democrat or
Labour says No to Universal Credit

Should the Successor be Out of Touch Rather than seeing more
Horror Cases like that of David Clapson Their Resignation is in Order
as Well

The Poor and Vulnerable of this Fascist State are Victims of Oppression

No to Universal Credit

mrmarcpc | December 8, 2015 at 3:52 pm | Reply

UC system is a failure because IDS is an incompetent, useless, arrogant, evil minded, odious fascist failure, what else would you expect with someone like that at the helm, he failed as tory leader so what did they think he was going to do when he was put in charge of this, obviously it was going to fail too, this white elephant has been a disaster from start to finish, ill conceived, badly thought and planned out and incompetently executed but what else do you expect from IDS, a huge money pit this has become and is continuing to being, system is not up in place, people aren’t getting their money and it’s costing the taxpayer a bloody fortune, I wouldn’t be at all surprised that if more problems occur with UC, the tories don’t scrap it altogether and if that’s the case, then IDS should be made to fall on his sword and get his useless, Nazi arse out of office because all he is is an abject failure and that’s what his true legacy is, being a big, bloody, bald failure!

A Wise Old Man I Spoke to in 2008 AD said what a Disaster it would be if the Tories Got In

Shame on them Thick Enough to Vote Tory in May 2010 AD the
Liberal Democrats for being Lobby Fodder Sheep the ” Official Opposition ”
for being like Spineless Dummies during the Condem Days and Those
who Voted Tory in May 2015 AD were Worse than Shameless and
Clueless

Maria | December 8, 2015 at 10:57 pm | Reply

I foresaw all this, 7 years ago, I hoped It was just a nightmare, but if it is; its gone on for long enough.

This is how IDS is gonna get rid of the work programme and all the scrounging companies like Serco, Shaw Trust, et al. There will be no need for them under Universal Credit. The Claimant Commitment will do the job he wants – ie, create off flow off benefits, via the sanctions route. Most normal people will not be able to spend 35 hours a week doing jobsearch, or be able to prove that they have spent 35 hours a week looking for work. Sorry, but I just cant see it – and IDS knows it – people wont be able to comply with the severe draconian conditionality, get sanctioned, and then just sign off. Presto – the claimant count plummets, and Cameron gets up in the commons and trumpets how successful he has been at reducing the claimant count via Universal Credit. Costs will be drastically reduced, as the sanctioned claimants wont be getting any money apart from the totally destitute few that actually qualify for repayable Hardship “loans”. The DWP wont need private companies as they don’t give a shit about the claimants getting “real help” with getting a meaningful job. All they want is the claimant to fail the claimant commitment – ie 35 hours of jobsearch a week, and that’s the ulitimate goal. Sanctions will be what reduces the benefits bill. Millions will get sanctioned for failing to prove they are doing 35 hours of jobsearch a week. This is the end of social security as we knew it.

It was some bloke who goes down the mines who was on the telly earlier, said he would miss it when it comes to an end. There are various safety regs that have to be complied with when you go down the mines, but there is nothing in the law that gives agency workers, or zero hours contract or the people that hold them, rights. 😀

zero hour contracts mean they can pay you off when you like or you are free to leave, if the job is that bad then leave, but like I said someone has to do the job and it would be better if those in the warehouse fought for better conditions, joint a union anything other than put up with it.

‘with help and support you can get what you are entitled to, now who is talking bullshit – people shouldn’t need help and support they should be getting what they are entitled to, stop letting the job lot off the hook.’
wtf now you’re demanding unions to step in…. the very unions that couldn’t stop the pit closures… false flag crap yet again from fly…. you demand that people morph into super beings…you say brassed off is a great film but miss it’s fundamental message entirely…

If workers form a collective over pay and conditions they cannot ignore all of it’s staff or incoming staff if word gets out on the grapevine to other workfare users, are the dwp going to sanction everyone for refusing to work for crap salaries and conditions?

What we are seeing is the capitalist exercising their power over people because they divided them just as Thatcher did with the miners, some bought their houses and would be left homeless if they did not pay the mortgage while those in council houses were reasonably protected.

Because capitalism is a moveable feast it can move from country to country, pick and choose where it plants it’s means of production, playing one country off against another and leaving some like third world countries.

THAT IS WHY WE NEED AN END TO CAPITALISM AND THE POWER IT GIVES THOSE WHO OWN THE MEANS OF PRODUCTION, THE CAPITAL AND THE POWER IN FAVOUR OF NO CURRENCY.

You can join as many unions as you like but if the employer refuses to recognise or speak with that union, you are pretty much on your own, unless you are “lucky” enough to get to an industrial tribunal.

It’s actually very difficult for an employer not to recognise a union in much of the way in which, for example, disciplinary procedures, are concerned, as an employee is legally allowed to have a representative who is a union rep, regardless as to whether the employer recognises a union or not. It can make a huge difference, as employers often try it on.

I have personally recently represented someone who was almost certainly facing losing their job, only the employer had prepared such a bad case that I was able to tear apart, (they also badly messed up procedures too, which helped) which resulted in them dropping the case completely, the worker keeping their job as if nothing had happened, and even getting all their back pay, and pay enhancements for the period they had been suspended. I think most unions now, even those with deep pockets will avoid going to a tribunal, as the cost is now so high, but it’s often useful to threaten employers with tribunals, (it’s largely a bluff, but the employer doesn’t know that!)

Having said that, many unions are pretty crap when it comes to doing some things, but you can be assured that with unions like the one I’m involved with, (the IWW, https://iww.org.uk/) you will get someone who is 100% on your side as a fellow worker, and who will do their utmost to get one over on the employer – we don’t like them!

Employers might like to think that they can ignore unions, but that is only if the unions play along with the employers on that. In some things they can’t ignore unions, as workers are legally entitled to representation by anyone they choose, and it is their choice, not that of the employer, and a worker can choose whomever they like.

There is no need for workers to be alone, and joining any union is better than not being in a union, but not all unions are made equal, and I’d suggest that joining a union run by workers, for workers is a better choice than joining a union that offers you credit cards and cheap car insurance (as well as charging high rates of subs).

unions don’t have the power they once had though, and the Tories are plotting to take more power from them day by day. Protesting isn’t working any more either. Nor are petitions as the government seems to pick and choose which ones they ignore and which ones make them look good. Blowing people up, shooting at them, setting fire to things or hitting people does not work either. The old world of politics is dying, the new world is out there, there needs to be a new fresh approach. Don’t ask me what it is I do not know, but there has to be new ways, peaceful ways of getting the government to listen.

Perhaps not Maria, but they have a lot more power than they pretend. It’s just that most unions are run by highly paid bureaucrats who are in league with employers, and who are far more likely to do deals behind the worker’s backs than they are to provide effective support to oppose bad working conditions or poor pay.

One only has to think of USDAW, the union that many shop workers are in, and who are particularly active with Tesco workers. Are Tesco workers paid decently? Not at all, and unlike Aldi that is prepared to advertise their jobs at between £8.20 and £9.50 p/h in this area, Tesco, like other supermarkets, will only state that their rate of pay is ‘competetive’ (with where, China?), meaning, of course that they pay around 5p an hour above the legal minimum wage. As soon as someone becomes a union rep with USDAW in Tesco, they are sent on one of Tesco’s management courses, so much are the union in cahoots with the company! (It seems that many USDAW reps are ‘turned’ and become management)

Protest still has it’s part to play, as do strikes, but they need to be well organised, and equally importantly, sustained actions – none of those silly half-day or single day stoppages, but sustained actions that will have an impact. That kind of activity takes preparation, and huge levels of organisation, as once people are on strike, they receive no pay, and need to be sustained in some way, so that needs to be factored in.

As they are elected locally, you should always consider taking your issues to your local MP, or local councillor/AM/MSP/MLA. Don’t go alone, take some friends, take a choir, (yes, it works) take a megaphone and lots of leaflets and banners and maybe even something like a free shop, and stage a protest outside their office, (if you’re on public property and not causing an obstruction, you are quite within the law) and promise to return until your issues get a serious hearing. Of course, it’s best to try and meet before this stage to talk to your representative at the relevant level, but as you know, sometimes they don’t want to listen to you, so you have to make them listen.

If you have an issue with the way that your local representative has voted, (and finding out how they voted is easy, you can find it all online) then a series of protests outside their office, or the council offices can focus their minds wonderfully. In my area some of our local Labour MPs have been getting very upset because people are threatening to get them deselected for voting to bomb Syria. They voted for bombing, but if their constituents, and more importantly, the local Labour Party was against bombing, then they are perfectly within their rights to deselect the sitting MP, (and good riddance!)

It’s frustrating, but shout loud enough, and in the right places, and you will be heard. I know that it often seems bleak, but we do have options.

Shooting people and blowing them up isn’t the best way to make friends and influence people, and tends to create martyrs and encourage revenge attacks, as we know, but yet seems beyond the ken of our clueless politicians – he’s not Camoron for no reason!

Setting fire to things can get you noticed, and generate a lot of ‘what if’ stories about what could have happened, as was the case in Wales between 1979 and the early 90s, when quite a few holiday homes were set alight as a protest. That campaign largely failed, (largely because it wasn’t really sustained, and was probably sporadic attacks by several groups, even possibly MI5) ‘black-ops’) and only gained widespread passive support because no-one got hurt – not too difficult to do in remote rural locations with decent surveillance to make sure no one could get hurt, and by and large best avoided.

Peaceful methods work best, and humour can be a great weapon, as there is only so much riducule even thick skinned politicians can take. And we all need a good laugh.

went in and was asked to sign or could not have it done so said my arm is knackered and its what i use to right with so put down a scribble best i could and asked what if i had no hands to sign with and just sat there and said not got a clue lol.

while waiting they phoned 4 ppl all with the same time appointments so quad booking them.

goes in and asked the person if they were a reg doctor tried to doge it but asked again and said was a physiotherapist and health care professional for the dwp lol no you work for maxims never liked that lol

next i asked to look at my medical records that they had from my gp ect and never had any only what i filled in on the esa form and a letter from the hospital consultant from over a year ago pmsl.

next was to fill in the assessment with what was wrong ect ect and took about an hour and took copy of all my letters from the hospital as they never had anything?

after that was asked to look at my arm and what movement i had with, not a lot as can now lift 1lb with it and that was it so 1hr to fill in the assessment and 2 min to look at me?????

They are delebratly colluding with capita to hide evidence towards peoples P.i.P claims..ignoring medical evidence provided and not awarding discriptor points entitled. They are turning down claims for no reason .they are liers.crooks.and should be investigated for not keeping to legislation and guide lines.nobody is doing a thing about it.they are putting disabled people in poverty and restricting their movement by not granting mobility to people who need it.capita are supplying misleading false reports with lies and are able to over ride drs reports and medical history .they are not properly recording how an illness effects somebody and the assessors are not qualified to do these reports as nor are the dwp desicion makers..its one big scam. Lies deciet and inproper evaluations or any recourse to challenge them. They blatantly ignore everything you provided..they should be take to court ..

The recent remembrance services where poppies were placed at memorials in towns and cities brought back thoughts of ex soldier David Clapson,it struck home what this country has become and now what it now is.Instead of those dying for it, their now dying because of it.

Even the BBC are struggling to hide the real news. It’s just like a one fingered man trying to stop a leaking colander, the truth always trickles out.
It’s so easy to pretend that everything is huny dory just as the roof is about to cave in. We have a word for it, they call it insanity.

There was even a muslim peace march that the media decided not to report, quite shocking really but intentional to say the least because we have to keep up the pretence to feed the war is good, bunkum ideology.

Fake medical reports issued to those most in need of social care whilst kids go unfed, who put the great in great britain, lower case is only to good for this land of total shit.

Such is the might of those we have in power, they choose to extol the values of plastic 5p shopping bags at the same time as people are taking their own lives to slip out of this fetid, pus filled paradise of socioeconomic eugenics.

Take a good look at the freedom of information requests to the DWP and even they are running on empty, having to correct everything they have published earlier.
It is said that you need a good memory to be a liar, but the amount of deaths surrounding Iain Duncan Smith is totally stunning.

These are human beings, not wasps or fish.

Thousands upon thousands have passed away, the result of continued abuse from a madman, a killer free to unleash the content of a twisted mindset.
Surely it is an offence to harbour a killer, especially one that suffers from the delusions of his own grandeur yet is not even a legend in his own lunchtime?

except the stark reality is this IS the system we’re in, please support others to claim and/or appeal, and much human misery might be prevented..of course one can claim this is pointless as they will simply react and come up with more ideas like MR…but then that no hope thinking makes all protest, activism, and posting ultimately utterly pointless…they will not be shamed into changing their minds….
of course there are some who offer advice and who have no need of the SS system, duck for cover, throw in the towel, as soon as they come up against obstacles like being sanctioned, as they have other things to fall back on, but most don’t…

Why don’t you go and sit inside of the dwp on the claimants side of the desk and protest then, instead of being part of the advocacy system which is not much use to anyone really.
Some people can and are claiming £40 hardship allowance denied to those that did not duck for cover.

You are the one that needs your posts translating, I am the protestor you are the appeaser obd, I’d like to know what you think people are ducking out of if they refuse to do workfare?

People need well paid jobs, not apprenticeships that go nowhere which we have had for the past thirty years.
Daily politics today talked of paroling prisoners to do the workfare jobs for employers as part of their rehabilitation, rather than pay wages.

where does it clearly state that I said protest is futile, when I am telling you to get out there and protest, not sit in the benefits office helping people to fill out appeal forms? .and you don’t see that as protest or activism…?? it’s our way into the system, is protest/activism and the only way to get into the system to get needs met…march up and down the street, with the who ever, if you want, but it won’t change that immediate need…your protests were about being/becoming income deprived, ranting and raving is not effective protesting in this case…that will put much needed income into bank….

‘Why don’t you go and sit inside of the dwp on the claimants side of the desk and protest then, instead of being part of the advocacy system which is not much use to anyone really.
Some people can and are claiming £40 hardship allowance denied to those that did not duck for cover.’
how did your protests go flyhawks…?
oh yes i remember…you threw a tantrum, thrown out, sectioned, and then fell back on something else

Perhaps if more people had been behind me at the time when I was protesting instead of following dead beat s like Tony Blair/Brown and their cronies I might well have won the war before it began over New Deal, which incidentally was brought in from the USA after Gordon Brown went on when of his junkets there to see how it was run. There was tv footage of him being there to check it out.

You obd are too lazy to do anything really constructive it seems either because appeals are not working either here or when taken further to the European court.

PS I was not thrown out of the job centre, I was arrested and put in a cell all day then left to walk home in the evening.
I did not get myself sectioned, bent police, psychiatrists and phoney gp’s locked me up illegally for months on end, losing appeals even though I was more lucid than the so called professionals sitting in judgement on the appeal bench, or the lying staff who called themselves nurses.

You obviously are linking to when the USA introduced new deal, not when Gordon Brown went to USA on a junket before bringing it here when new labour came to power.
Your brain is too old to follow the thread properly.

OBD – Please don’t argue with idiots, as they will always beat you with experience.

Shitehawks will always come out with the utter crap that s/he does, and it will never make any kind of sense, as that person seems to live in some kind of fantasy land where people are able to live on fresh air – without realising that if you don’t have the money to pay the rent, or to pay for your next meal the last thing you probably care about is protesting.

The only protesting Shitehawks does, as far as I can see, (and I am not alone as SRSPS has actually counted the amount of time that SH spends logged in here) is against commentators on here, and quite clearly is very fond of telling others what to do, without considering that others can see just how transparent and utterly absurd Shitehawks really is.

SH also fails to realise that they are so obviously far less intelligent that they think they are. Deliberately getting one’s self sanctioned does not make one a martyr, on the contrary, it makes someone a fool. What price principles when you’ve starved to death, or lose the roof over your head? I think that the overriding concern when one is facing losing one’s sole source of support is ensuring that one’s basic security remains.

Registering appeals is part and parcel of any resistance, and anyone thinking about it would soon realise that if only a relatively small percentage of people who were unlawfully sanctioned under JSA appealed the weight of paperwork alone would be enough to cause major problems for the system, completely disregarding whether the appeal has merit or not. This does not in any way negate actual protesting outside Jobecentres, or generally against exploiters of workers, protests on their own do not achieve anything, and the last thing most claimants want to do when they visit the Jobcentre is to hang around any longer than they have to. It’s very hard to engage claimants outside of Jobcentres. It’s also easy for the likes of the police to move you on from pickets etc.

Shitehawks could learn from us, and start to help people fight the system through assisting them with appeals, pointing out their entitlement to hardship allowances etc, practical things that help to ensure peoples basic security that would actually allow them the space to start to think about other ways of challenging the system. Failing that, SH could start their own blog filled with gems of wisdom, (but I think SH’s fear is that no-one would read it) but has gone on record against doing just that with the feeble excuse that they could not afford it – both WordPress and Weebly allow free blogs, which kind of blows the affordability argument out of the water.

Shitehawks, and I make no apology for reverse bowdlerising your moniker, you are a small minded, bitter and petty individual who has some serious issues that need addressing. The very fact that you seem to think that you are the only one with the knowledge, the answers is very telling, and very worrying. You have nothing positive to contribute and can only pour scorn on those of us who offer genuine, and effective advice to those who seek it.

ps Did you not read that my appeals never got a hearing because they were discarded being one of the first to challenge the withdrawal of benefits, which you appear to think is ok so long as it is providing work for you as an advocate.

What good are ‘principles’ when you are sat on the High Street in the biting cold and driving rain huddled under your blanket with a soggy piece of cardboard placed in front of you saying: “Homeless and Hungry”.

As a Jobcentre staff member once said to me: “The most important thing is to protect your benefits”. (true that!) And I’ve never forgotten that. If you on on benefits your number one priority should be protecting your security of income whether that is through appealing or whatever, and keeping the roof over your head. All the ‘political protests’ and ‘martyrdom’ crap can wait for another time.

sib
why do i post..? i post to get a message out there, as you do….fly clearly represents the SQ, and trying to justify their position, which to be effective requires a mass movement which sadly no longer exists, and even when it did, history has proved this method to be ineffective in producing tangible long term change, which btw doesn’t even get the payment button pressed…a movement such as fly advocates will take many yrs to build and in the meantime people are still suffering…
that protest/activism takes many forms….
‘how dare you sanction me, rah, rah, rah…’ will not get the payment button pressed….got to do the paperwork, sadly, no it shouldn’t be unfair but is is…
perhaps these days she would get in touch with orgs like; http://edinburghagainstpoverty.org.uk/ according to fly they shouldn’t exist… but they would still invite fly to lodge an appeal, as a valid means of activism, if negotiation failed… so on one hand fly says protest, and support fly, and on the other condemns protest orgs…or implies that these orgs should magically spring up to support fly’s cause and then implies that they shouldn’t even exist… this org does protest @ jcp re any issue…
hopefully my stance gives a voice to others and they will post here as well….

You keep harping on about people can afford to be sanctioned because they have family to fall back on which is not always the case for some.
It is not always the case for those that have family either, poverty tends to run in most families.

plainly, to put it politely, fly has comprehension issues, coz i actually posted this…’except the stark reality is this IS the system we’re in, please support others to claim and/or appeal, and much human misery might be prevented..of course one can claim this is pointless as they will simply react and come up with more ideas like MR…but then that no hope thinking makes all protest, activism, and posting ultimately utterly pointless…they will not be shamed into changing their minds….
of course there are some who offer advice and who have no need of the SS system, duck for cover, throw in the towel, as soon as they come up against obstacles like being sanctioned, as they have other things to fall back on, but most don’t…’ which of course fly quickly condemned…

obd such a system as I envisage would not take many years to build, with world wide web and enough political will it could happen relatively quickly.
There may be some principalities or private islands that will still want to keep currency and languish in the lifestyle to which they are accustomed, but they still have to import goods which they would not be able to have if they were operating under a currency system.

What’s so bad about claiming hardship allowance, fly? It is perfectly legal in the same way MAKING A CLAIM and APPEALING is. You can’t be thrown in a police cell or a mental institution for making a claim, claiming hardship allowance or appealing but you can for having a stand-up protest in a Jobcentre.

nothing is bad about claiming hardship allowance, when I was sanctioned I was refused hardship allowance.
I am against the sanctioning system that causes people to need hardship allowance, reclaims, appeals or advocacy is that plain enough for you.
If you are too yellow to go and protest inside the job centre because you may be arrested or thrown into a mental hospital by the tyrants running the public services, then you don’t deserve to moan on here.

Lots of people have been arrested illegally or detained under the mental health act for peacefully demonstrating, that does not mean we should just sit back and accept it.

See how you will live if you are denied hardship allowance as I was, would you steal, prostitute yourself or loan a bit of spare cash from family???

but you were claiming in order to be sanctioned, so you had to therefore compromise your ‘unflinching’ principles then didn’t you, like we all do, under this toxic neoliberal system…
and you did try to claim hardship allowance when under labours new deal, but were refused it…and as you had something else to fall back on, you didn’t (need to) challenge the system, though contesting administratively and/or appealing…

I was one of the first people to be sanctioned after Blair came to power and I was only claiming benefit because I refused to get into thousands of pounds worth of debt to pay for further university tuition which labour brought out.
I did find work temporarily and part time, had to submit the hours I worked and my income made up to benefit levels as I still had a dependant at home.
All my appeals were binned by dwp staff when I refused to do work voluntarily for benefits and after being sanctioned, so appeal forms were not much good either then or now.

Both the dwp and council offices would say they had sent out forms when they hadn’t, making you walk miles to their centralised heated offices in all weathers and I’m sure such bastards would be given some kind of congretional type medal for their evil deeds.

do you actually take note of what you post or does contradiction come naturally to you….ans yes it does, you spew out anything to score points and drain truth into submission…
‘See how you will live if you are denied hardship allowance as I was, would you steal, prostitute yourself or loan a bit of spare cash from family???’

The point is mr Blair apologist, students should not have been charged for tuition fees in the first place and secondly I looked into when they had to be paid back regarding earnings, but was not prepared to pay for education that should be free.
It is free to public service workers such as nurses who get bursaries.

I never said I attained my degree in politics, I said I was studying for my degree when Blair came to power,but I have got qualifications in other subjects and that is what I would have matched moggy with.

I have stated it many times that Blair gave ultimatums to those in University, either study full time with student loans or sign the dole if you refuse to get into debt. Look at past comments to jv from years back.

By the way the student loans that were initially held by the government have been sold on to the private sector, which the government said would not happen but which I knew would and even told one of my fellow students would happen and why I refused to indulge.

I am done talking to an idiot like you obd a self serving, dwp appeaser.

You don’t have to pay 5p for a plastic carrier bag. Just use the self-serve like we do 🙂 We’ve yet to see anyone being prosecuted for pinching a 5p carrier bag! “I do apologise your Lordship. In our confused state we must have mistakenly pressed ‘zero’ for the amount of carrier bags we used”. “Very well. I sentence you to death by hanging. Take them down”.

They calm that “Claiment Commitments” are now in line with universal credit,perhaps they should have mentioned that legislation is not so.

Try and get an advance,its possible to receive payments fortnightly.It would put people off temporary work knowing this shit is waiting,so it doesn’t pay.Personally i would like to see the whole thing torn down and the Tories with it.

Well said Ken but the likes of Sib who is not in favour of protesting inside of his domain -the job centre – where he does he’s so called advocacy appeals that is doing nothing but making people acceptance of a system that stinks to high heaven. The welfare stated started with Old labour, has been threatened by tories, new labour and the com/lib pack who consider their thinking on the welfare state to be fair and wise, yet issue threats and ultimatums to enforce it if you dare to oppose it.
That is dictatorship, they are the ones that are telling people what to do and to do as they tell you or else.
Not one of these parties are worthy of a vote.
Infact there is not a party been born that really wants to change anything from the money grabbing capitalist system that we have, that caters for the few not the many.

Welby was born on 6 January 1956 in London, England.[2] His father, known as Gavin Bramhall James Welby, was born Bernard Gavin Weiler, in Ruislip, West London, in 1910, and died in 1977.[7][8] He was an alcoholic.[9] Welby’s paternal grandfather, Bernard Weiler, was a German Jewish immigrant and an importer of luxury items; shortly after the First World War broke out, he changed the family name to Welby.[8][10][11][12] Welby did not find out about his father’s Jewish ancestry until he was an adult

This weeks ch4 Dispatches: Low Pay Britain was good.
They printed off some of the ‘apprentice jobs’ from UJ for people to have a laugh at, just like we do!, and other stuff.

Who’s really benefiting from the 3,000,000 apprenticeships the Government has promised? Dispatches investigates whether high-profile companies are paying ultra-low wages in return for poor training,/i>

…………..So let me get this right, the DWP are trying to hide the fact that sanctioned claimants are dropping like flies at the same time as Southern Health NHS Foundation are ignoring the deaths of over 1100 with mental health problems and learning disabilities.

You don’t need to be very clever to recognise a EUGENICS / GENOCIDE / STATE ASSISTED CLEAN UP OF THE POOREST AND VULNERABLE DRESSED UP AS WELFARE REFORM.

One of the darkest and most surreal songs on the album is ‘Tinfoil Deathstar’ – a ghost story which deals with heroin abuse and the spectre of austerity victim, David Clapson.

Saul says: “There’s no hiding it, it’s about smoking heroin. It’s become massively popular among young people in London over the last few years. Part of it is to do with getting older and naturally progressing into harder drugs but it’s also to do with people being impoverished. We’re not making a judgement about it, just writing about it.”

Lias says: “A few years ago no one was on it but then this brown cloud rolled through London. The three nights a week on cocaine? No one can afford that any more. At the end of the song the ghost of David Clapson is standing at the window asking to be let into the party. He was a former soldier, a veteran, who had his benefits cut after he missed one appointment and they found him dead in his apartment. He had diabetes and couldn’t afford to keep his fridge on and keep his insulin cool, which was the thing that killed him. He was found next to a stack of CVs… it’s fucking disgusting. He had £3.44 to his name and the autopsy showed he had no food in his stomach when he died. He had worked his whole life and only started claiming dole so he could look after his mum.”

Saul adds bluntly: “It’s just murder. He was murdered.”

Lias concludes: “It was murder. I like how the song sounds really gleeful and upbeat; the idea of having a warm heroin glow surrounding all of these young people having their youthful opiate adventures but right at the end the ghost of David Clapson is outside the room looking in, tapping on the glass with a bunch of CVs in his hand, waiting to be let in. He is like their Ghost Of Christmas Future. These are two separate realities and they may be disparate but they are linked and I was just trying to bring out this underlying link.”

There is No Comfort in Slavery
Steve Jones | December 9, 2015 at 8:22 pm | Reply

This is how IDS is gonna get rid of the work programme and all the scrounging companies like Serco, Shaw Trust, et al. There will be no need for them under Universal Credit. The Claimant Commitment will do the job he wants – ie, create off flow off benefits, via the sanctions route. Most normal people will not be able to spend 35 hours a week doing jobsearch, or be able to prove that they have spent 35 hours a week looking for work. Sorry, but I just cant see it – and IDS knows it – people wont be able to comply with the severe draconian conditionality, get sanctioned, and then just sign off. Presto – the claimant count plummets, and Cameron gets up in the commons and trumpets how successful he has been at reducing the claimant count via Universal Credit. Costs will be drastically reduced, as the sanctioned claimants wont be getting any money apart from the totally destitute few that actually qualify for repayable Hardship “loans”. The DWP wont need private companies as they don’t give a shit about the claimants getting “real help” with getting a meaningful job. All they want is the claimant to fail the claimant commitment – ie 35 hours of jobsearch a week, and that’s the ulitimate goal. Sanctions will be what reduces the benefits bill. Millions will get sanctioned for failing to prove they are doing 35 hours of jobsearch a week. This is the end of social security as we knew it.

councils sold their housing stock to private housing associations for the property boomers to have a field day, they used social housing land to build houses to buy and part buy/part rent, very little left for social housing – so much for the councils that sold tenants down the river.

Indeed the Housing Situation is another One of Thatcher Evil Legacy
which Need’s to be Changed for the Better

flyhawks | December 10, 2015 at 5:06 pm | Reply

councils sold their housing stock to private housing associations for the property boomers to have a field day, they used social housing land to build houses to buy and part buy/part rent, very little left for social housing – so much for the councils that sold tenants down the river.

Abolish currency altogether that is the only way you are going to set all peoples off on a level playing field. Then start building and producing for the benefit of all not just the capitalist.
A citizens basic income will not stop those that are earning from increasing their wealth thus increasing the gap between rich and poor.

………AND THIS IS WHY THE HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL CANNOT GIVE YOU A COPY OF YOUR MEDICAL EXAMINATION RESULTS AT THE TIME OF YOUR MEDICAL…….

Claimants do have a legal right to see PIP reports. The Data Protection Act (DPA) 1998 gives
claimants the right to see all personal data held about them electronically or clerically. The
request must be made in writing and the Department must reply within 40 days.
However, copies of PIP reports will be supplied by the Department for Work and Pensions
(DWP) if a claimant requests one. The request can be made over the phone to the PIP Enquiry
Line. It will usually take a couple of weeks to arrange.
Health Professionals are not authorised to give claimants a copy of the report at the time of the
consultation.

………………..THE WHOLE EXAMINATION IS JUST A COMPLETE FARCE TO GIVE THE CLAIMANT THE IMPRESSION IT IS BEING COMPLETED BY A THIRD PARTY, INDEPENDENT OF THE DWP.

Well said Geoff. My impression is that the DWP hope claimants get fed up with the constant barriers thrown in front of them and therefore give up. Under the so-called welfare reforms claimants are actively being worn down with a process that is clearly not designed to be user friendly. Can you imagine if this ugly process was used as a means of receiving medical treatment in the NHS. Then again, under the Tories nothing is safe.

yes but this is very well known and has been known for many yrs now and specifically why… http://edinburghagainstpoverty.org.uk/node/5 states the following…. ‘The Work Capability Assessment….designed to cut your benefits through trickery, but read on to learn how, with advice and support, you can get what you are entitled to…..’

with help and support you can get what you are entitled to, now who is talking bullshit – people shouldn’t need help and support they should be getting what they are entitled to, stop letting the job lot off the hook.

‘with help and support you can get what you are entitled to, now who is talking bullshit – people shouldn’t need help and support they should be getting what they are entitled to….’
stating the bleeding obvious once again…but they’re not are they or people wouldn’t be suffering….
so what type of protests do you advocate to win back humanity….??

come on fly where’s your answer..?
what replaces what we have now…imv community, but where is it, if others campaigned for stronger community, more support for people in need, rather than counting deaths, there would be fewer deaths…

According to the ‘daily politics’, it is unfair that those in work have to pay for those out of work according to IDS – if that is not blatant cheek I don’t know what is, especially as those out of work paid more when in work than those that are in work now – work that one out.

Are we talking about a NHS service providing not for uglies but for beauties to have their assets enhanced and given Hollywood smiles while the real (not plastic) or well connected poor people waiting for treatment are left with a Cinderella service.

“Holywood smiles’ are not all they are cracked up to be. Either the tooth is ground down (and the root canal filled) and replaced with a crown or the whole tooth is extracted and an implant inserted. Not exactly fun, and then there is the plastic surgery.

The Tories are completely obsessed with stopping people from claiming Benefits. Why? What the hell’s wrong with them? Why are they so hell-bent on creating as much misery as possible? Their ideology belongs to another century. It’s time now to submit to the inevitable and share the wealth. The Industrial Revoltion is over. There’s no industry and not enough jobs. The population is growing. We need an Unconditional Citizens Basic Income. The present system is obsolete and It’s all gonna come crashing down.

Because the dwp fraud investigators are part of the same bent system.
Like the Care quality commission is for the NHS.
Like Offcom is to the telephone companies.
Like OffGem is to the power companies
Like offwatt is to the water companies.
The list is endless.

THE grieving daughter of a disabled man who took his own life after wrongly being found fit for work called for cross-party support to force David Cameron to publish Government reports into the deaths of another 60 victims during a meeting with SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson and Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell yesterday.

Robertson has “relentlessly pursued” the Prime Minister to release information about the deaths of countless disabled people, who have died in similar circumstances to Anne-Marie’s O’Sullivan’s father Michael, in a bid to prevent further deaths.

He has twice raised the case of 60-year-old Michael, whom a coroner ruled had killed himself after being wrongly found fit for work after a Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) assessment, during Prime Minister’s Questions insisting the death of O’Sullivan cannot be ignored by the Tory Government.

If you’re wondering why comments are going for moderation it’s because any comment containing more than two links is automatically flagged as spam, so if you want your comment to appear immediately keep it to two links per post

Robertson previously told Cameron: “The Prime Minister has questions to answer – the Department for Work and Pensions has undertaken 60 investigations into suicides that have occurred after benefits were withdrawn or reduced, but has so far refused to publish what it has learnt.

“The Prime Minister cannot ignore the Coroner’s warning that there is a risk of further deaths.”

John McArdle, co-founder of the Scottish-based Black Triangle disability campaign, who have been working with the O’Sullivan family, said there were a number of questions both the SNP and Labour must put to Cameron about the deaths.

These include: “Do you believe that your ministers hold any responsibility for the death of Mr O’Sullivan and potentially for the deaths of many other people with mental health conditions?”

McArdle said: “Anne-Marie, Disabled People Against Cuts and the Black Triangle are demanding that the opposition including the SNP and the Labour party go in all guns blazing about these deaths because we want maximum exposure on this because people are dying. That was the main reason Anne-Marie had this meeting.

“We are demanding answers to these deaths, it has got to stop.”

Next week Black Triangle is joining forces with Inclusion Scotland to meet with Labour MSP Neil Findlay, followed by a meeting with SNP MSP Christina McKelvie “with a view to getting the BMA and GMC brought before the committee and give an account for themselves as to how they let Mr O’Sullivan down and thousands like him”.

McArdle said: “Is the Government not guilty of wilfully breaching the common duty of care owed to vulnerable citizens undergoing assessment leading to avoidable catastrophic harm and in many cases to their deaths?”

Robertson said: “It was a pleasure to meet with Anne-Marie O’Sullivan today to discuss her important campaign to highlight the failures of the Work Capability Assessment system which is unfit for purpose.

Will the chidren of the innocent civilians, killed by British bombing in Syria, be supplied with HILARY BENN T-shirts?
They need to know who was ultimately responsible for their parents untimely deaths.

More to the point, will ISIS ever kill more UK citizens than DUNKO THE CLOWN?

I’ve heard that the Government is going to hold a street party for all us un-employed on New Year’s Day along the M1 Motorway. They are not, however, going to shut that road whilst they put on this street party for us… The other bad news is that if we refuse to go to the party, we’ll get sanctioned for three months for non-compliance.

The government’s controversial benefit sanctions regime is leaving vulnerable people hungry and at risk of homelessness, a leading charity has warned.

Research conducted by the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam University, on behalf of the homeless charity Crisis, warns that benefit sanctions are hitting vulnerable people hardest, with many pushed into poverty and destitution.

The resulting report draws on a survey of more than 1000 people from homeless hostels and day centres, as well as 42 in-depth interviews.

Researchers uncovered shocking stories of people being forced to sleep on the street and having to cope without food or heating.

Of those respondents to the survey who had been sanctioned over the last year:

21% reported becoming homeless as a result;
16% said they had been forced to sleep rough as a result;
77% had gone hungry or skipped meals;
75% said it negatively affected their mental health;
64% had gone without heating;
60% found it harder to look for work

Homeless people are at least twice as likely to be sanctioned than other benefit claimants, a situation Crisis says fails to take their needs and circumstances into account.

People with mental health problems were also more likely to have been sanctioned compared to people without mental ill-health – 45% compared to 34%

Research from Crisis shows that the number of people facing homelessness in England rose by 9% last year to a total of 280,000 cases. And yet DCLG statutory homelessness statistics show just 52,270 households ‘accepted as homeless’ in 2013/14.

They calm that “Claiment Commitments” are now in line with universal credit,perhaps they should have mentioned that legislation is not so.

Try and get an advance,its possible to receive payments fortnightly.It would put people off temporary work knowing this shit is waiting,so it doesn’t pay.Personally i would like to see the whole thing torn down and the Tories with it.

The SNP have made a stand but has only served as a means to an end, their independence, which will do nothing for those in Britain that are opposing the tories, nevertheless I hope they get what they want anyway.

Slave Labour Councils that Victimise the Poor and the Homeless Not
Least over Nutcase Public Spending Cuts courtesy of the Westminster
Regime Not Least over Demolition of Housing and Housing in General being Stooges of Austerity are quite Simply Despicable and should Resign
Out of a Sense of Basic Decency

No to Slave Labour Austerity Stoogery wherever at Westminster or in
Local Councils

The Nazis when they Came to Power Pushed their Acts of Oppression
Step by Step Year by Year if Not Day by Day

The Tories ( Propped Up by Liberal Democrats from May 2010 to March
2015 AD ) with the then ” Official Opposition ” being like Spineless Consensus Zombies have Pushed their Acts of Oppression Step by
Step Year by Year and more Recently one could think it was more Day
by Day

The Not So Great British Public ( Ostriches I Am All Right Jack Middle
Class Mindless Hooligans ETC ) like the Majority of the General Public
in Nazi Germany have Acted like Political Zombies and in too many Cases
being Entranced to Believe the Propaganda of the Regime Not Least
that about The Poor and Vulnerable being ” Scroungers ” when it is the
Selfish Rich who are the Real Scroungers with Tax Breaks Tax Havens
and Greedy Power Crazed Mentality just as Sheople in Nazi Germany
Believed the Disgusting Propaganda against Jews who were Viciously
Persecuted by that Demonic Regime from the Depths of Hell

The Nazis Suppressed Political and Religious Freedom of Speech

The Tory Regime is trying to Push So Called ” Extremist Disruption
Orders ” a Threat to Political and Religious Freedom of Speech when
the Real Extremism has been the Warmongering in the Middle East
Not Forgetting Afghanistan and Libya and against Public Services with
the Nutcase Ideology of the ” Small State ” ( SS ) .

No to So Called ” Extremist Disruption Orders ” Yes to Political and Religious
Freedom of Speech in the United Kingdom and No to a Nazi Britain
Thousand Year Reich where Tory , Slave Labour Austerity Stooge or
Liberal Democrat- Liberal Dictatorcrat

Some people here are constructive & some are moaners & dictators. The ones non stop posting all day every day don`t seem to know or understand the urgency in it all like being in comfort & comfort blankets while others freeze to death with no blankets of housing. The bullshit show up to be well off & in no need of urgent help. So no urgency means bullshitters & fakes with all the time on their hands to insult others that are in need of knowledge & info.

Can anyone answer my question – What has politics got to do with Human Rights Issues? Because politics has no place in a Human Rights Breach & since it is politics causing the Human Rights breach politics wants to save their arse in shit.

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